Amherst County administrator invented, patented sprinkler system – Lynchburg News and Advance

In 1996, Dean Rodgers served active duty for the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in San Antonio, Texas.

We regularly had droughts because we had limited water, said Rodgers, who now is Amherst County's administrator. [The state] limited the amount of lawn water you could use during certain hours.

Rodgers would go to work on base at around 7:30 a.m. and said he didnt have time to run home and water his lawn during those hours.

Rodgers and a co-worker, William Dick, worked in the same office in the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence.

Dick originally came up with the idea for a new sprinkler system and showed it to Rodgers, who suggested he attach a connector pipe to make it rotate, Rodgers said.

Rodgers said what makes the sprinkler system, dubbed Quick-Snap, different from others is that consumers never have to put it away.

It's an industrial-grade, professional sprinkler head, which are not available as end-of-hose sprinklers because they are designed to operate from buried piping, he said.

Buyers can snap a hose onto the Quick-Snap and water pressure pushes a riser up five inches above the ground. The stream spouts water 17 to 40 feet at 2.5 gallons per minute. The rotation can be set 40 to 360 degrees.

Rodgers said the sprinklers are similar to those contractors install but cost about $2,000 less because a contractor would have to put in the in-ground pipes and connections to have a pop-up sprinkler system.Retailers sell Quick-Snap products for between $20 to $40.

Rodgers has invested about $100,000 in the business but said he has yet to make money off the product because he pours all profits back into the business.

Each year it grows, so I have to buy more inventory, he said.

Quick-Snap sold about 500 products a year for the first 10 years, but now it sells about 5,000 to 6,000 a year around the world, Rodgers said.

Rodgers said he began by making a few sprinklers in his living room and selling them.

By the end of the summer, Dick said he couldnt keep doing it while he had a day job, but I said, Yeah I think I want to keep it going, and I may even get it patented.

Rodgers got permission from Dick and set up a licensing agreement; each year Rodgers sends Dick a royalty check. Rodgers patented the product three years later in 1999.

Ive been selling it ever since, he said. I spent years going to trade shows and trying to pitch it to big manufacturers.

Thats when Amazon.com, Sams Club and other retailers added Quick-Snap to their product lines.

Retailers are interested, but not manufacturers, Rodgers said. The in-ground sprinkler manufacturers see us as a threat to their customers the contractors who install in-ground systems. The end-of-hose sprinkler manufacturers consider Quick-Snaps as unmarketable because it would force their customers to dig a hole to use the product.

So, Rodgers manufactures the product himself. But with a busy life working as Amhersts County administrator, Rodgers said he is ready to sell the business.

It keeps me busy, he said. There are two or three hours every night bookkeeping in regards to sales and ordering parts and supplies, he said.

Sams Club now is running a market test of Quick-Snap sprinklers, buying 160 units for 25 stores, including the Lynchburg location.

They are going to see how well they sell, Rodgers said. Im hoping they sell so they will pick up the product and sell it again.

Though Sams Club wont release numbers on how well Rodgers product is selling, spokesperson Laura Poss said the retailer often tests new products.

Were certainly excited were getting to share a local product with that community and they can test it, she said.

She said Sams Club encourages people to bring in their products and talk to managers about getting them on shelves to see if theyre a good fit.

We make ourselves really available to other entrepreneurs to get their product on the shelves and start a conversation, she said.

She said there are several ways the future of Quick-Snap could go in Sams Club.

Its varied depending on what the product is, but there could be an opportunity to spread to that market if its successful, she said.

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Amherst County administrator invented, patented sprinkler system - Lynchburg News and Advance